Airport security - almost always a story

I travel a lot -  most of it flying, which means going through airport security.  Its almost always entertaining or at least interesting, both from a social perspective and as well as a process management perspective. Keep in mind I'm a healthcare consultant and much of what I do is identify outcomes that aren't ideal and then review the often chaotic/illogical processes (ones that don't guarantee a person will follow the process and get the desired result) to see how they can be improved.

What started me thinking about the airport security process (TSA "encounters") as a potential blog topic was my experience going through the line at the Charlotte airport VERY EARLY one morning this week.  Now I'm a fairly upbeat person in the morning and am extremely cooperative going through security.  I think some of what we're required to do (and what they are required to do) is a waste of time, but I do what's required.  I don't expect TSA agents to be cheery, but I do think they should be polite.  Not so with this guy (on the left in the picture below).

 Have you ever seen the movie with Richard Gere - "An Officer and a Gentleman"?  Remember the drill sergeant - Louis Gossett Jr.  That was my lucky draw.  Barking directions  - and my complaint is that they weren't accurate nor helpful directions.  You see, Charlotte has the new body scanners and I had to go through one.

If you look carefully at the picture, you will see a page of instructions taped to the left side of the scanner wall (left as you enter the scanner - this picture is showing the exit of the scanner).  The problem is you don't see this as you walk into the scanner.  So, like a drill sergeant he tells me to step into the scanner and place my feet on the boxes marked on the floor of the scanner.  These are small rectangles with the longest sides perpendicular to you as you walk in...so I obediently turn sideways and put my feet inside the rectangles - facing right (turning right was my error, however, he hadn't said which way to face).  Then he instructs me to turn around  - at this point I'm still looking at my feet to make sure I'm exactly in those little rectangles.  Then he tells me to put my hands up on the side of my head...which I do, only its not exactly how he wants me to do it so he demonstrates.   Finally, as I am fully facing the left side of the scanner, I see the instructions page which shows an image of a body in the correct position.  I apologize and say "sorry, I didn't realize there were instructions in here - have you thought about putting them at the entrance so they can easily be seen or maybe asking the person to face the left wall?"  No answer.   

Here's my question - is it too much to ask that the TSA agents be polite and helpful?  I don't think so. I stopped one of the supervisors and asked if its a requirement to be rude and behave like a drill sergeant. She was very nice and asked me who and what I was talking about.  I explained the process I'd been through.

As I'm putting my shoes back on, I'm thinking if they just re-organized the process and put the instructions in a place where they were clearly visible as you're walking into the scanner, this grouchy TSA agent would no doubt have a better day. Honestly I can see how it would be frustrating to be in his shoes and have to tell people the same thing, over and over and over. However, a few tweaks to their process, in my mind, would fix that.   And my bigger point is that it might shave off some time for each individual going through the scanner and thus reduce the big lines of people waiting their turn to get through security.

It will be interesting to see if I go through the same process next week.  I'd put money on it being exactly the same.

As  side note, I asked who was viewing the scan pictures and got a vague answer - seems you can't see who is doing that.  I've been through a scanner in another airport and the viewing screen was to the side of the area and you could see the person (male or female).  I was just curious to see if they actually rotate male and female TSA agents depending on the gender of the person going through the scan. 

More TSA stories to come this week....I'll include a few "stupid passenger" stories.  There are far more of those than grouchy TSA agent stories.